Stray Cats - To Feed Or Not To Feed

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Hi all

This is carried over from the do you feed stray cats survey posted in general (dog) discussion. Would like some rescue orientated opinions on how you catch stray feral cats - if you don't feed them? Or why feeding them (with a view to catching them) is bad. It's pretty obvious to me that just feeding them - makes it easier for them to make more kittens so neither my friend nor I would do that.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/250961-have-you-fed-a-stray-cat-lately/page__view__findpost__p__6268737

I recently helped a friend catch some kittens that she'd lured into her home with food over a couple of weeks...

And my friend took them to AWL who told her off for feeding the kittens at all.

I'm wondering if your survey friend knows what we're supposed to do with stray cats if we don't catch them and take them to the RSPCA or AWL. And how we're supposed to catch them without feeding them.

These cats definitely were not owned, the mother cat had a litter somewhere in a housing trust community and nobody there owned any of them. Don't know where the mother cat has gone now.

[*kirty*]

If you want to catch them, you have to feed them. General plan is put food in the open trap several days in a row, but don't set the trap. Then set the trap and catch the kitties. Personally I never bother with the first bit because I usually have to travel to trap, and I've found most strays are hungry so go straight into the trap first go.

Depending on the situation, options for stray/feral cats is trap and take to the pound, or trap, neuter, release. TNR is only really practical in urban areas and where someone is willing to keep feeding the cats.

ETA The real problem with feeding strays comes when people feed them but don't trap them or desex them. Feeding a stray long term makes it healthy, allows it to breed, increases survival rates of kittens, etc. So often we come across situations where people start out feeding one or two strays and then a few years and many litters later they call rescue, overwhelmed with the colony of cats they now feed.

Edited August 6, 2013 by *kirty*

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Thanks Kirty

That will make my friend a little bit less confused.

Not sure what is going on with the AWL or if she just misunderstood.

[Guest Wildthing]

I have posted in the original thread. However, will add that I do not do the feed with trap not set first bit either. Recently, I took a kitten under Duty of Care from Queanbeyan pound. It was about 6 weeks old and weighed 356grams and was covered in ringworm. The Ranger did not expect it to survive the night. 6 weeks late she weighs 1.5kgs and is still on treatment for the ringworm. This kitten was one of a colony of wilds that were being fed by people and when the population got too high, they called the ranger to trap. It would have been kinder to TNR in the first place, given they were feeding. As it is now, none of the cats are desexed so can continue to breed and 11 cats lost their lives as a result of the trapping.

Trap Neuter Release (TNR)only works when there are volunteers who will continue to feed the cats, like kirty said.

A friend of mine who is also in rescue, had an entire male cat dumped on his property (he lives rurally) He desexed the cat and had kept it for a week or so before taking it to the local pound - trying to find the owner. They are deeming the cat is a "Surrender" purely because he had fed the cat. The law states is you feed a stray cat, you become the owner by default.

I cannot understand the rationale that you should not feed as I believe that is not humane and irresponsible. Most Animal Welfare organisations will tell you to leave alone. That tells me the organistion is not animal welfare thinking in reality.

For my other comments, please refer to the original post. sorry, I cannot cross reference - technicology challenged.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

The law states is you feed a stray cat, you become the owner by default

Yes - this is what AWL said. I haven't found this law anywhere tho. I've looked in the dog and cat management act, it isn't there, and those laws vary from state to state anyway.

I doubt that "you feed it, it's yours" would apply to anything else. Hmm, I like that racehorse, I wonder if it likes carrots...

[honeybun]

This is such a difficult issue.

I had a long term local stray start to steal food from my own cats bowls, and I thought I was only supplementing its diet,by default. But I went away for 10 days and when we returned home, the stray presented himself at the back door, almost skeletal. I then realised it had been depending on us for his food completley.

My husband befriended him and I trapped him, had him desexed , chipped, vaccinated etc and he now lives with us and is actualy the best cat we have ever owned, and we have had some wondeful cats.He adores my husband and is a big bruiser of a boy, battle scarred but looks so much better now.All those last 8 years when he had no one, makes me sad to think of what his life must have been.You would only catch a glimpse of him running through the yard or across the street late at night, and could never get near him.

I also had a 6 week old kitten dumped in my backyard and it was semi feral, so had to trap it and a friend socialised it whilst we were away those 10 days and then I had him desexed,chipped etc.

So now have 3 cats.

But colonies would be more difficult.Trapping is easier if it is in your own backyard, but to place the trap away would risk the cat being hurt the time it is in the trap with no one around.

The kitten was trapped within a few seconds and only cried, but my old tom although he took only minutes to be trapped,threw himself around the cage and was lucky I was only a few feet away, and made sure he didnt hurt himself.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I think if you cover the trap, they feel relatively safe...

When I helped my friend - what we actually used was a crate, covered in some towels. My friend made the mistake of taking the towels off when she put the crate in the car. Would have been better if they thought they were somewhere defendable and fully enclosed.

I watched the guys on verminators, and I thought their skunk trapping job would have been a lot easier, if they'd wrapped the traps up all except for the door, with skunk proof plastic... But no, they left the traps out in the open and then they had to get the skunk proof plastic on after the skunk was trapped and angry.

[Little Gifts]

Mum has this problem. For many years there has been a tiny stray cat living on their block that we have named Irish. Many neighbours with traps have tried to catch it (including mum) without success. It still breeds around 4 times a year but is down to only 1 or 2 kittens from each litter. Even if no-one fed this cat there is a huge school across the road and an equally large nursing home and she would have no problem raiding bins to survive. We have been able to pat her from time to time while she is eating but despite multiple efforts to grab or trap her inside (she comes in the cat hole to eat mum's cat's food) she is the ultimate Houdini.

So we tend to only catch the kittens she leaves behind at mum's (she has taken a liking to having her kitties under a house around the corner) using the cat trap and if they are feral and too hold they go to the pound and if they are young and can be socialised they go to a local cat group. It is very sad as we all wish we could get her and desex her and simply let her live out her years as the street's cat. It has been a long time since anyone saw evidence of her catching birds but she definitely keeps the mouse and rat populations down.

Our biggest problem is a pet hater who traps everyone's pet cats trying to catch her or her kittens. It doesn't matter how many times the problem has been explained to him he keeps at it and yes, council have inspected mum numerous times because of all the supposed stray cats she 'owns'. The most help they will give is to leave her with a cat trap. It is a vicious cycle. We feed to try and trap, not to tame or become cat hoarders. It is really hard because we are all really fond of little Irish and when we see her pregnant again everyone stays on watch for when she disappears to have her kittens and then turns up again with a flat belly and hungry stomach. While we don't want her having more kittens we do want her and the kittens to have a healthy pregnancy and trouble free birth as we know it hasn't always been that way. She might be a stray but it is hard to think she might die painfully in child birth one day due to malnourishment or that her kittens die for the same reason. Strangely none of the kittens we catch have flea or other burdens and since Kirty told us about it all meals have L-lysine on them (I think that's the name of it?) so no cat flu in any of them either.

I'm sure there will be people who think we are doing the wrong thing but we have been trying in numerous ways to catch this cat for years. I would really like to put a sedative in her food and catch her that way but council and our vet say not an option and too risky for the cat. What other practical options do we have?

[minimax]

I have posted in the original thread. However, will add that I do not do the feed with trap not set first bit either. Recently, I took a kitten under Duty of Care from Queanbeyan pound. It was about 6 weeks old and weighed 356grams and was covered in ringworm. The Ranger did not expect it to survive the night. 6 weeks late she weighs 1.5kgs and is still on treatment for the ringworm. This kitten was one of a colony of wilds that were being fed by people and when the population got too high, they called the ranger to trap. It would have been kinder to TNR in the first place, given they were feeding. As it is now, none of the cats are desexed so can continue to breed and 11 cats lost their lives as a result of the trapping.

Trap Neuter Release (TNR)only works when there are volunteers who will continue to feed the cats, like kirty said.

A friend of mine who is also in rescue, had an entire male cat dumped on his property (he lives rurally) He desexed the cat and had kept it for a week or so before taking it to the local pound - trying to find the owner. They are deeming the cat is a "Surrender" purely because he had fed the cat. The law states is you feed a stray cat, you become the owner by default.

I cannot understand the rationale that you should not feed as I believe that is not humane and irresponsible. Most Animal Welfare organisations will tell you to leave alone. That tells me the organistion is not animal welfare thinking in reality.

For my other comments, please refer to the original post. sorry, I cannot cross reference - technicology challenged.

We have an issue at the moment where a TNR would be perfect, but no one will do it. We currently have a depot cat where I work. She keeps pumping out the litters, and a few times the kittens have been caught, raised and adopted out. The mother has been caught once, I'm not sure of the reason, but people have been talking to some local vets (the Animal Referral Hospital in Homebush is just around the corner from us) and they have said they won't desex her because we can't regularly check the wound and ensure it's clean and not infected etc

They did say we could think of a oral contraceptive which could be given in food each day, but it has to be each day and that's obviously not practical.

And uh, can you please link to the law about feeding a stray makes you the owner? I highly doubt that's the case. If you trap a cat, you have to treat it humanely and this means providing it with food and water. It doesn't become yours. That's like saying "I found a stray dog wandering the streets, so I'm going to keep it".

[Guest Wildthing]

I have not bothered to locate the law that says if you feed a stray cat it becomes yours by default. Reason - it has been the accepted thing for years. I have a friend who recently fed and desexed a stray cat before taking it to the Queanbeyan Pound. They deem him to be the owner of the cat and are saying it is a surrender. Doubt you could use the same 'law' for any other animal! Unfortunately, there are more people you hate cats than like/love them.

Irish. She would be one very clever cat to avoid being trapped for so long.

Depot Cat There are other vets who would desex her for you, but you would need to ask. Some vets do sub cutaneous sutures which do not need removing. Some vets would also keep the cat in a cage for at least 48hours to ensure she is okay before they allowed her to released. Finding a co operative vet in the are may be difficult, but try a Rescue Group for vets.

Yes, cover the traps for security. It is also advisable to leave them for 24 hours if you can before doing anything with them (vet work etc) I cover crates to help settle them if necessary.

Trapping colonies You need several traps set at one time. However, if you are trapping over a few nights, then the last ones to get trapped become very wary and not as easy to catch.

I never leave the trap unattended just in case some yobbos find it and do not deal with the cat in a humane manner. I have spent many days and nights just waiting until I hear the trap go off. I have a friend who has about 8 traps that does the big jobs for me these days. I assist at times and we do feed when necessary on a long term job.

I am happy to help with suggestions if anyone wants. Just PM me. I live in Canberra and have been in cat rescue for 18 years.

[Guest Wildthing]

I have spoken to a Ranger at Queanbeyan Pound regarding any written laws about feeding stray cats. According to the Ranger, there is no written law, but it can be argued in court that you have become the owner because you have fed the cat - or any domestic animal for that matter. It does not apply to wild animals. So, if you found a stray roaming race horse and fed it, you could argue it was yours!!!!!

I have found it is often easier to work with the system rather than try to buck it. I am interested in the best outcome for the animal.

I am prepared to speak to a solicitor on Monday regarding any written laws regarding feeding stray animals.

[cowanbree]

When I first moved in here there was a huge feral cat problem. My place is just out of town but rural enough and down a quiet no exit road which made people fell safe enough to dump their unwanted cats here. This situation wasn't helped by the lady down the road providing some food and zero medical care. It was absolutely revolting, they were starving and diseased and there were so many of them.

I couldn't ignore the situation so decided to start trapping with a view to rehoming. Didn't really work out as if they have been wild for some time as these had, they are very difficult to tame. Medical costs were huge, took ages to get them suitable to rehome and then nobody really wanted them and in the meantime the remaining ones were breeding. It was a horrible situation.

Now days my neighbour catches just about everyone who even thinks about dumping a cat here and the ones he doesn't I get hold of the cats fairly quickly and do my best to rehome. Our SPCA won't take them and we don't have rescue. Fortunately we haven't had that many in recent years

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Wildthing

I think you're doing a good thing.

I guess it would make it easier for someone to dispose of their neighbour's straying cat, or the cat from down the street - who comes and picks fights with the neighbour's cat... if feeding it was all it took.

My council has declared that all cats should be registered and microchipped so they obviously think there have been some complaints and problems. However - when it comes to enforcing, they're not really interested unless you have already caught the cat.